Sonos

Thorton · February 2013

I've converted all my CD's to FLAC and picked up a Sonos Connect (+ free bridge) to stream to my AVR. I chose the Sonos based on the feedback on the forum and also the lack of competition providing all the features I wanted. What is my overall opinion of the Sonos = WOW! I have read on some reviews (not on this forum) that people have thought the unit was a little pricey. I thought it may have been a little high before I purchased it. But this product so far is awesome. Set-up was incredibly easy, I can control everything from my android phone and kindle fire, the interface to manage and play tracks is simple, the SQ is great and so far no hiccups. For a product to have this ease of a set-up, fantastic user friendliness for controlling and so far flawless operation; I consider it to be priced right. This little unit made me think "why in the hell didn't I purchase this 5 years ago". I don't say that too often. Anyways, I'm very happy with the purchase and highly recommend it. I retired my 300 disc Sony CD changer. I'm kind of sad to see it shelved but I guess technology moves on.

pearsall001 · February 2013

Awesome unit the Sonos!!!! It really doesn't have any competition. Just a bunch of Sonos wannabe's. And as far as some thinking it's a tad pricey, I have to chuckle...these are probably the same guys that dropped 5x the Sonos cost on a pair of speaker cables & thought what a great deal they got. Too funny. Glad you're enjoying it, it only keeps getting better & better. I love mine for sure. Say good night CD/SACD players.

tonyb · February 2013

Congrats man, actually, the poster above me Phil, talked me into it a few years ago and I still owe the man a beer or 10 for steering me in that direction. The wife likes it better than me now.

Subscribe to a music service for 10 bucks a month like Rhapsody or Mog and your world will open up greatly. You'll never buy a cd again, seriously. There are some tricks to using the software, so if you need tips, just ask.

As far as competition goes, none in their price class. The SB was the only other one but Sonos software had the edge on them. I looked at q-sonic, Soolos units, Olive, and they where all in the thousands of dollars. The sonos with a good dac will make you happy for along time. Congrats again, and ask if you need anything.

AsSiMiLaTeD · February 2013

Never buy a CD again, seriously? Do those services you mentioned stream lossless audio? Last I checked they did not, but things may have changed. Those services are actually a great companion to a good CD collection, but they can never replace it for me. It's worth mentioning that I haven't listened to an actual CD in years, but I buy CDs all the time and rip them down to my media library. I'm not discounting services like Mog or Spotify, but there are two inherent problems:

1 - As far as I know there's no lossless capability, so while they can work for background music, I don't see how they're viable options for real listening
2 - You're paying for a subscription, kinda like Netflix, where they can add and remove content as they see fit. Now they're very cheap and a great value, but just like Netflix streaming will never replace my DVD and BD collection a streaming service like those would never replace my existing library

I'm not putting words in your mouth Tony, just relaying my general thoughts about the streaming services

tonyb · February 2013

No, I get ya dude and you make valid points. No, music services do not stream high rez, but most don't always listen to that format anyway. You can get close to cd quality sound and thats pretty much what we all were accustomed to for many years. I don't know about you, but for me I have never found a cd with more than 2 or 3 songs I wanted to own. Why pay for the rest of them when you can download individual songs, or play them on a music service, store them in a playlist ?

My modded Sonos does good on high rez but that was expensive to mod it. Now given, I have compared the modded unit to a non modded unit. One playing high rez files and the other just lossless files in Itunes and the differences while there, were slight. Sure, I prefered the modded unit playing higher rez files but only because my speakers are pretty revealing and those slight differences more noticeable. On a pair of Tad bookies, or out on the deck you'd hear zero difference.

I still have my own music library downloaded in lossless into the Sonos, and cd's stored away. Haven't bought a cd since I got the Sonos and Rhapsody. Not too much new music is of any quality to warrant doing anything more, to me anyway. I dig 24/96, but bad recordings exist in that format as well as 16/44, and some I find almost no difference. A crap shoot if you will. Some well recorded 16/44 is just as good and sometimes better than some 24/96. Mapleshade recordings come to mind. Regardless, it's a matter of taste is all and what fits into your listening habits and lifestyle. For me anyway, I don't want to spend alot of time chasing down quality recordings, I just want to enjoy the music.

Drenis · February 2013

I'm contemplating a move to Sonos from SQB only because I have 1 app of which I can control my system and its from my tablet. However, apps xist for both phone and tablet (Blackberry) to control Sonos all day long... It's so frustrating. No one wants to support SQB or LMS it seems now...

pearsall001 · February 2013

tonyb wrote: »

Congrats man, actually, the poster above me Phil, talked me into it a few years ago and I still owe the man a beer or 10 for steering me in that direction. The wife likes it better than me now. Subscribe to a music service for 10 bucks a month like Rhapsody or Mog and your world will open up greatly. You'll never buy a cd again, seriously. There are some tricks to using the software, so if you need tips, just ask.

As far as competition goes, none in their price class. The SB was the only other one but Sonos software had the edge on them. I looked at q-sonic, Soolos units, Olive, and they where all in the thousands of dollars. The sonos with a good dac will make you happy for along time. Congrats again, and ask if you need anything.

Tony, Those 10 beers will be a great start!!! If I'm even in Chicago land you can bet I'll be in touch. Same thing here Tony, I haven't bought a new CD in I can't remember how long. My collection is pretty extensive & ripped to FLAC on a NOS drive, then being sent thru the Sonos then on to the CAL Alpha DAC is pure musical sweetness. Don't for a second think that services like Rhapsody (I subscribe) can't put a smile on your face. Again I'm running everything thru the Alpha DAC & those Amperex tubes add a nice finishing touch on my musical enjoyment. I just don't get too hung up on the whole 16/44, 24/96 bit scenerio. There's pros & cons to both...bottom line is what sounds good to you. I'm more than happy where I'm at now. But you never know what the future has in store. My CD player will never see the light od day again.

Thorton · February 2013

Tony if you or Phil are ever in the metro Detroit area or I attend the next Polk Fest, I'll buy both of you a couple of beers. This unit is fantastic. I trialed MOG and really liked it. A little limited on selection but I did like it. I just had to draw the line on $10 for this a month, $10 for that a month....it never stops. So far I haven't had one question on the Sonos I couldn't easily figure out. I have been researching the DAC threads and a DAC purchase will be in my future. Thanks for the input.

tophatjohnny · February 2013

Cool. Not for me, but still cool!

JoshuaGessner · February 2013

i love sonos

ptrooper · September 2016

Has Sonos changed much over the last few years ,?
I am now looking into a product to synchronise my two systems through the house.

mantis · September 2016

I have owned Sonos for many years. I actually started installing it way back when they first came out in 2006. Since then I haven't seen anything better. Yeah there are a few out there are are pretty cool but not superior or even close to how good Sonos is.
We carry Autonomics which can stream High Rez Music. This is a very attractive feature but honestly not really. Not all my speakers in my house are of Reference quality. Only in my Family room do I have speakers I want to actually listen to.
I have Speakers in
Garage, Deck,Master bed, Master Bath, Hall Bath, Basement Gym, Dining Room. Thats 7 zones of music not including my Theater system in my family Room. I have independent Amps driving each pair of speakers.
I have Sonos running all my rooms and have a Connect for the Theater system.
How I get my music is I buy it either from iTunes if I'm not looking for the absolutely best quality or I go buy the CD, rip it into iTunes and then stream it to Sonos.
Or if I'm gonna listen to High Rez stuff along with CD stuff or iTunes stuff, I connect my Laptop to my SC-99 VIA USB DAC and away I go. I have a Jitter Bug inline as well from Audioquest.

ptrooper · September 2016

Sold,Thankyou for helping make my decision!

RamZet · September 2016

That Sonos has a line in, you can still use your CD player.

Don't forget to go to settings and check "un-compress " music.

Also give Tidal a free trial, its a Flac streaming service.

tonyb · September 2016

I would highly suggest subscribing to any of the top music services, it will really open up your listening pleasure. Get a good dac, use good cables and you may be done for a while.

Joey_V · September 2016

Sonos or bluesound... hmmm

tonyb · September 2016

Not for you Joey, your level is far beyond those 2. You need a dedicated music server to do justice to that system.

ptrooper · October 2016

No products stream that lvl of resolution or definition that i have heard to this present day ....CD's i.e. source to system still sound better! ,not complaining as i am still extremely happy with the sounds from 2 x Sonos connects (Digital out)and my wife's play 1 (which she didn't want but carries it around like a baby lmao ) The system gives a fantastic ambiance around our home.

tonyb · October 2016

ptrooper wrote: »

No products stream that lvl of resolution or definition that i have heard to this present day ....CD's i.e. source to system still sound better! ,not complaining as i am still extremely happy with the sounds from 2 x Sonos connects (Digital out)and my wife's play 1 (which she didn't want but carries it around like a baby lmao ) The system gives a fantastic ambiance around our home.

Actually, many do, and some better it. Thing with most these smaller digital streamers is, you need a decent dac to hook up to them to get cd quality sound. You want higher resolution you need a better streamer and dac along with better cables. It all adds up in the end. Just like there are different levels of sound quality with standard 2 channel systems, digital works the same way, different levels of it to experience and enjoy.

I've had the play 1, sent it back. Had the integrated amp too, sent that back. The zp 90 with a decent dac and cables was way better sounding than those other 2 on their own.

ptrooper · October 2016

Thank you for that information @tonyb Thats my next job,installing a decent digital cable.I sold my mark levinson 37 transport and 360s dac soon after having my oppo 105D upgraded by Joe Rasmussen,sadly there was no comparison . I was running transparent reference balanced between these components but i don't really want to outlay that sort of $$ between the two dacs and zp90's ,i have them both digitally connected through the oppo and yammy rxz11 receiver.
I can understand returning the play1 but i only want background ambiance from this unit.

tonyb · October 2016

Gotcha man, how many zp90's you have ? I have 2, one is a standard unit, the other Cullen modded. One I use with a speaker selector switch and it covers 2 outside area's and inside kitchen area.

ptrooper · October 2016

just 2 standard zp90's here .I likemallot

WagnerRC · October 2016

Thanks Tony. Wife is happy as hell with the sonos. It is a nice up to date player compared to the sb for sure. I have two moded sb's that I will keep because they sound so damn good until I by something in the future. Tidal and sonos is one slick deal.

tonyb · October 2016

Yeah man, my wife too. So easy a caveman can do it, and that's what she likes. I'm out the door before the Sonos in her eyes. lol

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